Migration: fight against smugglers: London hopes for Internet companies

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migration
Fight against smugglers: London hopes for Internet companies

People fleeing Eritrea, Libya and Sudan sit in a wooden boat in the Mediterranean Sea, some 30 miles north of Libya. photo

© Joan Mateu Parra/AP/dpa

More than 45,000 people crossed the English Channel to Great Britain in 2022 – also with the help of smugglers. It should now be made more difficult for them to advertise their services online.

Britain’s Conservative government wants to work with internet platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to discourage refugees from crossing the English Channel in small boats. “To stop the boats, we have to fight the evil people smugglers’ business model,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, according to the British news agency PA. Therefore, platforms should remove posts that offer discounts for groups, free places for children, and false documents.

Last year, more than 45,000 undocumented migrants crossed the English Channel to Britain, mostly in small boats. The Conservatives had announced that migration would decrease with the departure from the European Union. However, since then there has been no readmission agreement with the European Union. Sunak has made stopping such boats one of his important goals.

According to the PA news agency, around 15,000 people have crossed the English Channel by boat so far this year. Many also choose other routes to reach the British Isles – such as on board lorries or as stowaways on ferries or through the Eurotunnel, which connects Britain to mainland Europe by rail.

dpa

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